Sex Week 2023 will be from Feb. 12-18 and will aim to promote positivity around physical intimacy. Credit: Madison Kinner | Asst. Campus Editor

Sex Week will kick off Sunday with a bang. 

Sex Week, a series of events focused on abortion and LGBTQ+ activism as well as sexual health, will return to Ohio State for the fifth year in a row Feb. 12-18 to promote inclusivity and positivity around physical intimacy. The first event will speak on education for queer youth. 

Student Advocates for Sexual Health Awareness runs the 25-event week on campus to provide extensive sexual education, Jamie Reed, president of SASHA and a fourth-year in environment policy, said.

“Sex Week is a national thing, and we’re not the first school to do it,” Reed said. “The mission was to bring comprehensive sex ed across all topics, and we’re just continuing that.”

Eve Howard, vice president of SASHA and a fourth-year in neuroscience, said the week aims to broaden sexual education for all students. 

“A goal that spans every Sex Week is keeping it inclusive to everybody, comprehensive and accurate,” Howard said.

According to the SASHA website, the events kick off Sunday at noon with a discussion from the Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a Columbus-based LGBTQ+ youth support group. It will focus on improvements that could be made in education for queer youth, such as changes to school or district policies.

Other LGBTQ+-centered events include the queer mixer Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Ohio Union. to bring students together for games and snacks. The week will end Feb. 18 with a presentation on healthy communication and a speed-dating exercise. 

Reed and Howard said one of the most popular events of the week is Kink 101, also called “Great Minds Kink Alike.” They said it features a Q&A portion about kink with panelists brought in from Lion’s Den, an adult toy store sponsoring the event and providing raffle prizes. The event will be held Friday at 7 p.m. at Independence Hall.

Reed said one of the events — “Up to Date: Today’s Abortion Legislation” — will include a panel of Planned Parenthood Advocates to discuss changes to Ohio abortion legislation after the overturning of Roe v. Wade Sunday at 2 p.m. on Zoom.

Howard and Reed said they expect turnout to exceed 1,000 people throughout the week due to increasing student participation since the first event in 2019.